How Bonanza Sellers Increase Summer Sales With The Christmas in July Promotion

If you’re worried about summer sales, you’re not alone. The summer season is typically the slowest for online retail sales, unless you sell “summer-y” products, or have plenty of Father’s Day products to help get you through this tough season.

Even if you don’t sell summer-specific or summer holiday products, you can use your creativity to do well. Marsha Muller, owner of My Texas Treasures, a store on Bonanza, based in Houston, Texas, doesn’t have any particular products that help make summer a great season. Yet Marsha’s July, 2013, was the second-highest revenue month of 2013, after December. How did she do it? Through Bonanza’s Christmas in July promotion.

How the Bonanza Christmas in July Promotion Works

Sellers on Bonanza created the promotion, and manage it, with the blessing of Bonanza corporate. All stores that want to participate are required to offer a discount for the Christmas in July promotion. Participants also must agree to promote the program through social media, including Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, and blogs. In addition, participants are asked to donate prizes, which are given to winners of contests throughout the promotion.

Sellers who participate in the promotion are given free avatars and banners, provided by Bonanza sellers, which can be personalized with store names.

How Sellers Promote Christmas in July

Social media helps drive the promotion. “We will hashtag #bonanzachristmasinjuly on Twitter,” notes Marsha. “One year it was so big it was a top five trending hashtag on Twitter.” Pinterest is also very helpful. “We create different Pinterest boards — one for ornaments, one for products, etc., then everyone will tweet the boards and we get more exposure for the products,” says Marsha.

Some participants promote the program offline. “We’ve had sellers create fliers and hand them out or put them up in their communities,” offers Marsha.

“Our contests also help our promotional activities,” says Marsha, who has taken the lead on the program for the past several years. “We give prizes to the seller who does the best blog, YouTube video, or Pinterest board. We also give a prize to the seller who has the most Christmas in July sales.”

The Christmas in July Block Party is also popular. On a weekend in July, from Friday to Sunday, sellers offer extra discounts, promotions, and prizes.

Sellers Buying From Sellers

Sellers buy from sellers during the Christmas in July promotion. Here’s why:

• Secret Santa: Sellers sign up to participate in this. Bonanza has a feature where you can add items to your wish list. Your Secret Santa buys an item for you, from your wish list. You do the same for your Secret Santa recipient. All of these items are from Christmas in July sellers.

• Visibility: Items get more exposure during the Christmas in July promotion. That combined with discounts, encourage other sellers to buy products.

Typical July Sales Increases from Participants in the Promotion

“Most sellers who participate in the Bonanza Christmas in July promotion see at least a 30% increase in sales from June to July,” says Marsha. Of course there is a wide range of results from the promotion. “Some people see little in the way of sales, and some see a huge amount of sales,” notes Marsha. “The sellers who participate the most, through volunteering to put together the program, as well as those who promote it the most through social media and offline, often see the best results.”

How Bonanza Helps

Each year, Bonanza Co-Founder and Director of Happiness Mark Dorsey writes a blog post describing and promoting Bonanza’s Christmas in July promotion. In addition, Bonanza includes several products from participants in the promotion on its home page in July, which receives a large amount of traffic.

Ultimately, though, “the best thing we can do to support this promotion is to let our sellers do what they need to do to bring in Christmas in July sales,” says Mark.

“Bonanza has an extremely close-knit group of sellers,” Marsha offers. “That, coupled with a supportive e-commerce platform like Bonanza, is probably why Bonanza has the largest and most successful Christmas in July promotion.”

Final Thoughts

Marsha is gearing up for this year’s Christmas in July promotion. Information on the 2014 promotion is available here. On June 30, a new thread will be posted, which will include participating stores and discounts. Sign-ups are open until the end of June.

In the meantime…“We’re always looking for volunteers,” says Marsha. “We hope to make this our most successful July ever!”